Israeli strikes kill 20, Palestinian medics say, as military orders evacuations

Cairo: Israeli strikes killed at least 20 Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday, local health workers said, as the Israeli military resumed its bombardments and issued new orders for residents to evacuate combat zones.

A foreign national was killed and four others were wounded in an Israeli airstrike on the site of a United Nations headquarters in central Gaza City on Wednesday, Gaza's health ministry said.

The Israeli military denied in a statement that it had struck the U.N. compound in Deir al-Balah. It said it had struck a Hamas site in northern Gaza where it had detected preparations for firing into Israeli territory.

Israeli airstrikes killed more than 400 people on Tuesday, according to Palestinian health authorities, in one of the highest single-day death tolls since the beginning of conflict, ending weeks of relative calm since a ceasefire in January.

Israel warned the onslaught was "just the beginning".

Israel and Hamas accuse each other of breaching the truce, which had offered a respite for Gaza's 2.3 million residents after 17 months of war that has reduced the enclave to rubble and forced the majority of its population to displace multiple times.

Israel has accused Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields. The Palestinian Islamist group denies the accusations and accuses Israel of indiscriminate bombings.

Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies, shattering Israel's reputation as invincible in a hostile region in the country's worst security disaster.

The subsequent Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed more than 49,000 people, say Palestinian health authorities, and caused a humanitarian crisis with shortages of food, fuel and water.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to resume bombardments has triggered protests in Israel, where 59 hostages are still being held, with 24 of them believed to be still alive.

A coalition of hostage families and protesters against Netanyahu's moves against the judiciary and other parts of the security establishment has regrouped and accuses the prime minister of using the war for political ends.

On Wednesday, the Israeli army dropped leaflets in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, ordering residents to evacuate their homes, warning they were in "dangerous combat zones."

"Staying in the shelters or the current tent puts your lives and that of your family members in danger, evacuate immediately," read a leaflet dropped on Beit Hanoun.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he had ordered strikes because Hamas had rejected proposals to secure an extension of the ceasefire until April.

Hamas accused Israel of jeopardising efforts by mediators to negotiate a permanent deal to end the fighting.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday that she told Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar that the situation in Gaza is "unacceptable".

Jordan's King Abdullah called for the ceasefire to be restored and for aid flows to resume.

"Israel's resumption of attacks on Gaza is an extremely dangerous step that adds further devastation to an already dire humanitarian situation," he said on a visit to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Arab plan in jeopardy

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday called for restraint from all sides ahead of her trip to Lebanon to discuss the conflict.

"The resumption of fighting ... jeopardises the positive efforts of the Arab states, which together want to pursue a peaceful path for Gaza, free from Hamas," Baerbock said in a statement.

Israel and Western powers do not want the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to play any role in the enclave when the war is over. Israel has vowed to crush Hamas, but the Palestinian militant group remains the dominant force in Gaza.

Arab nations drew up a plan for peace and reconstruction in Gaza after a proposal from U.S. President Donald Trump to resettle Palestinians and turn it into the "Riviera" of the Middle East triggered outrage in the region. However, the plan has not gained traction.

In Wednesday's violence, three people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City, while another airstrike left two men dead and wounded six others in Beit Hanoun town in the north, the Gaza health officials said.

Palestinian medics said Israeli tank shelling on the Salahdeen road killed one Palestinian and wounded others, while an Israeli airstrike killed three people in a house in Beit Lahiya town north of the enclave.